S’Mores Pumpkin Pie

My suggestions of “let’s try this!” or “how about that totally unique variation?” are shot down with a loving but firm, “No.” And god forbid I suggest making something OTHER than pumpkin…

Or, he tells me sure, go ahead and experiment, but he’ll be purchasing his own pre-made pie at the grocery store.

And since we all know I will not allow store-bought pumpkin pie in this house, I give in, agree to make him his boring old pie on Thursday… and immediately begin baking a few miniature pies for myself. Who cares if it’s the week before Thanksgiving, I’ll have my pie and eat it too.

This S’Mores Pumpkin Pie is a mashup between my s’mores mini tarts and a classic pumpkin pie: graham cracker crust, soft chocolate ganache, classic pumpkin filling, and a heaping mound of toasted marshmallow fluff. You can take this idea and use your own classic pie recipe instead of mine, although keep in mind you’ll probably have a bit of excess as a result of the extra layer of chocolate on the bottom.

Since I determined that baking an entire pie just for myself was probably overkill, instead I baked a half recipe in these two adorable 5″ pie pans I picked up recently. Turns out two 5″ pies are almost exactly half the volume of one 9″ pie. Yay, math! Each 5″ pie is a good 3-4 servings, unless you’re famished in which case you get an entire half a pie all to yourself.

While it is incredibly messy to eat (I’d argue that all the best foods are), the marshmallow fluff is almost like a built-in layer of whipped cream. Sticky, toasted whipped cream.

Plus you get to use your torch (ooo, fire…)

Meanwhile, I’m still scheming on how to give Taylor’s mandated “classic pie” a new twist this Thursday, without pissing off his traditional tastes. I’m thinking maybe he won’t notice (or mind) if I spike the thing with a hearty dose of bourbon, or if he does he’ll be too toasted to complain.

(Side note – literally as I was brainstorming how I was going to make this idea a reality, Jessica’s post popped up in my reader. Great minds think alike? Check out her Pumpkin S’mores Tart, which uses a pumpkin cheesecake base and marshmallow meringue, and sounds absolutely divine.)

For Pumpkin Filling:

For Marshmallow Topping:

2 1/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (from 1 packet)

1/2 cup cold water, divided

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup, divided

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To prepare crust, combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add butter and stir with a fork until mixture resembles wet sand. Firmly press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes or until just set. Let cool slightly.

Combine chopped chocolate and cream in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour into crust and spread into an even layer in the bottom.

To prepare pumpkin filling, whisk pumpkin with eggs until smooth. Whisk in sugar, cream, milk, spices, and salt until evenly incorporated. Pour into crust, taking care not to overfill the crust (depending on the size of your pie pan you may have a little bit leftover). Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until center is just set. Remove from oven and let cool completely, then refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours or overnight. Take out approximately 1 hour before making marshmallow topping to allow any condensation to evaporate.

To prepare marshmallow topping, place 1/4 cup cold water in a small dish. Sprinkle gelatin over and let sit for 5 minutes to soften.

Combine sugar, remaining 1/4 cup water, and 1/4 cup corn syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, and boil until mixture reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Place remaining 1/4 cup corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer. Microwave gelatin mixture on high for 5 to 10 seconds or until completely melted, then add to bowl with corn syrup. Turn mixer to low speed, and slowly drizzle in hot sugar syrup. When all the syrup has been added, increase mixer speed to medium-high, and mix for 5 minutes. Add vanilla extract and beat on the highest speed for another 5 minutes, until marshmallow is opaque, glossy, and tripled in volume.

Working quickly, dollop marshmallow mixture onto pie, and use an offset spatula to spread and shape it into a mound. Let sit for 20 to 30 minutes to allow the marshmallow to set, then gently toast with a kitchen torch until golden brown and blistered. Serve at room temperature. (Tip: to slice, first run a knife under hot water for 30 seconds; then quickly dry and use it to slice your pie. The warm knife will cut through the marshmallow and chocolate layers much cleaner than a cool knife).

Haha, love all of this! First, I’m a sucker for anything mini, so that’s a given, second, I know exactly how you feel with having a SO who has traditional tastes! At least the bright side is that he isn’t hard to impress, so at least he’s predictable if sometimes constraining ;) Love this, thanks so much for posting!

This recipe is truly after my own heart. Nostalgia & comfort all wrapped up in one dessert. Tell Taylor sometimes you have to let go of tradition to allow for the inclusion of chocolate, and you did the variation justice with this pie. Yum!

Even though I pinned Jessica’s recipe, I pinned this one too, because, yes, I need to s’more pumpkin pies in my life! Love the mini pie tins, I never know how to make less pie. Cookie recipes are easy to cut in half; pie, not so much! This pie looks so good!

Had to stop back to let you know that I shared your post with my readers on my blog’s Weekend Wrap Up — it was too amazing looking to keep to myself! I’ve left the link below in case you’re interested — I’d love it if you’d stop by. I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Last year I convinced my dad to try a walnut cinnamon topping on top of one of the two pumpkin pies. So many people were stuck in their ways and proclaimed that they wanted plain pumpkin pie. But guess which one disappeared first? Good luck sneaking in something fun into your pie!

Yay for mini pies! I just picked up some 5″ pie dishes myself and I love them. Lucky for me my family is flexible about the Thanksgiving menu; there are too many great variations on the classics to do the same thing every year. Like you pies-they look amazing!!

I love this!!! and love that you are scheming to come up with a twist on the classic pumpkin pie. . do it!!! My husband is the same way but they all need to experiment a little. :) maybe you should let him buy the store bought one and find out the hard way that homemade is wayyyy better and that he needs to be open about trying new things? :)

Haha Steve (and most of my family) absolutely BAN me from experimenting on Thanksgiving…so this year I compromised! I told them mom will make a traditional pumpkin pie, and I’ll start whipping up the weird! And I’ll commandeer a few of the sides too…they won’t know what hit them until its too late! Muahahaha

I was very excited to make this pie and introduce it to friends this Thursday for Thanksgiving but it did not receive good reviews – at all. The idea is great but the recipe is greatly lacking sweetness and spices – was VERY bland. So, because my pride was a little bruised, I remade it today again with my left over ingredients and added the below — tastes MUCH more interesting. :-)

CRUST:
I added 2 more tbs of brown sugar to crust and used 8 tbs of butter.

I might suggest finding a dairy-free pumpkin pie base recipe, and then adding the chocolate and meringue layers to that. Sometimes swapping the dairy in pie can result in it not setting properly, so you’d be better off finding a recipe that was intentionally made without dairy to begin with. :)

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Welcome to Love & Olive Oil, the culinary adventures of Lindsay and Taylor. We're all about food that is approachable but still impressive, unique and creative yet still true to its culinary roots. (More...)